Town seeks to revitalize itself

Addressing people at a site visit work session is Tracey Clothier from the LA Group of Saratoga Springs, the consultants for the Schroon revitalization plan.

SCHROON LAKE | A Townwide Waterfront Revitalization Strategy is coming to help guide the Town of Schroon.

The town recently hosted a public meeting to present primary ideas from the work of the Town Project Advisory Committee to develop the strategy.

About 125 residents and visitors attended the event held at the Boathouse Theater in Schroon Lake Town Park recently to work on the plan.

At the meeting, consultants from the LA Group and Trampoline Design presented the existing conditions in the community and the findings of the committee, and then asked for feedback from those attending the meeting on the draft recommendations.

The project started in March 2017 with grant funds from the state Department of State through the Environmental Protection Fund.

Committee Chairman Roger Friedman explained how three subcommittees focused on Recreation and Waterfront Access, Economic Development and Tourism Infrastructure and Waterfront, Hamlet and Downtown Revitalization.

Tracey Clothier, a regional planner with LA Group, explained that “in order to identify how you want to grow in the future, it is essential that the community look at the demographics of the year round and seasonal residents and visitors.”

She said as with so many municipalities in the Adirondacks, the town is seeing a smaller population with a higher median age.

“However, it is apparent that Schroon has a vibrant and community active retirement community, an indication of the high quality of life they enjoy in part due to the town’s unique and varied infrastructure as well as cultural, recreational and social offerings which in themselves may offer an opportunity for job growth,” she said.

Recommendations for revitalization centered on improving the curb appeal of the downtown and accessibility to the waterfront.

The plan also suggests organizing the trail systems and waterways in the town into a cohesive recreation plan that is complimentary with regional recreational planning initiatives. Recreation planning includes how the town can leverage the redevelopment of Frontier Town and the North Country National Scenic Trail which will pass through Schroon Lake to its eastern terminus at Crown Point State Historic Site.

Amanda and Sean Magee from Trampoline Advertising and Design explained that the town needs a fresh approach for branding, marketing and promotion that has the potential to appeal to a new generation of visitors.

They said Trampoline will be providing a fresh framework for the Schroon Lake Area Chamber of Commerce to begin to address the changing destination marketplace with its partner, the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, the Lake Placid group that is the accredited destination marketing organization for Lake Placid and Essex, Franklin and Hamilton counties.

Participants at the public meeting said there’s a need for the plan to reflect a welcoming and safe community with high quality of life factors, including the preeminence of a diverse number of cultural venues and visitor events.

Next steps in the planning process are for the Project Advisory Committee and the consultants to develop and incorporate the comments made at the meeting and produce a draft of a Schroon Townwide Waterfront and Community Revitalization Strategy.

The draft will be posted on the town’s website and paper copies will be available at the Schroon Public Library.